Everyone was persisting—some working while scheming to return to the city, others working while searching for a life partner among their fellow educated youth.
Of course, there were successes too. After getting married, couples would ask the village chief for permission to build their own house and live separately. In such cases, the house they built would belong entirely to them.
Su Mi had her own secrets and naturally couldn’t stay in a communal bunk forever.
But everything had to be taken step by step, and there was no rush for now.
There were exactly six girls on their side, so they chose to share one room.
The person in charge, Wang Aiguo, had just mentioned that with the addition of their ten newcomers, the educated youth compound now had exactly 56 people.
That wasn’t a small number, especially since four more were arriving tomorrow.
Su Mi knew that the four arriving tomorrow were the female protagonist of this world and her three devoted followers—numbers one, two, and three.
Su Mi wasn’t the original owner of this body, so she certainly wouldn’t risk her precious second chance at life over someone like Er Laizi.
Nor would she become friends or enemies with the female protagonist. The best approach was to keep her distance.
Thinking about all the female-oriented stories, no matter the genre, the female protagonist always seemed to attract trouble, and those around her were often plagued by misfortune or bad luck.
At this thought, Su Mi felt uneasy. She had to stay far away—absolutely far away.
“Hello, everyone! I’m Liu Meijuan, the person in charge of the female comrades here. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me—or any of the other comrades, of course. It’s getting late now,
so tidy up and come out for dinner!
We have a tradition here to welcome newcomers: the first meal you have after arriving is provided by us older educated youth, pooling our rations.
Don’t be shy about it. When we first arrived in the countryside, the older comrades treated us too. It’s a chance for everyone to get to know each other and strive for progress together!”
Liu Meijuan had short hair and looked capable and efficient, though her face was flushed red, whether from wind or sun, with a hint of highland redness and some freckles.
Everyone hurriedly carried their belongings into the room, with Zhao Xianjin and Zhang Qiang volunteering to fetch the rations.
The rest busied themselves cleaning their respective rooms, though there wasn’t much to clean—just wiping the dust off the windows and kang surfaces and sweeping the floor.
The previous occupants had kept the place spotless, even after moving out.
Hearing Liu Meijuan’s warm invitation, everyone nodded in acknowledgment.
“You’ll also need to buy a kang table and a kang mat. For something like the kang table, you can either buy one to share or pool money to get one together.
But for personal storage cabinets, you’ll need to buy your own. Don’t forget to get a small lock. The lock on our compound gate was left by the older comrades and still works fine. It’s locked whenever we come or go. There are only four keys, so if any of you want a copy, you’ll have to pay for it and take it to town to have a locksmith make one.
As for the lock on your room door, you can decide among yourselves whether to split the cost or have one person buy it for shared use—you can even take it with you when you leave.
The toilet is behind the compound. When you leave this room, turn right and walk to the end, and you’ll see it. There’s a split path: the right side leads to the women’s toilet, and the left side leads to the men’s. Make sure you don’t go the wrong way.”
We also have private plots behind the house, accessible from the toilet side. However, the area that belonged to us before has already been planted with vegetables by us. If you want to grow your own, you’ll have to clear and dig the land yourselves.
As for meals, the two of us take turns cooking each day. You can also cook for yourselves if you prefer. You can discuss this among yourselves first. If you cook separately, you’ll need to gather firewood and everything else on your own.
If you join us for communal meals, you should go up the mountain to collect firewood when you have free time. Of course, you can’t cut down trees on the mountain—they belong to the collective. You can use a knife to chop small branches or gather dried leaves and twigs to dry for use.
By the way, you all know how bitterly cold the winters are here, right? Almost half the year is spent huddled indoors during winter, so heating the kang and keeping warm requires a lot of firewood. Of course, if any of you have connections to get some coal, that would be even better…”
Liu Meijuan rambled on for a long time, while Su Mi and the others listened carefully, occasionally asking questions about things they didn’t understand or other curiosities.
Liu Meijuan answered each question in detail until Zhang Qiang called from outside to collect the rations. Only then did everyone put down what they were doing and head out one by one.
Niu Dali held a notebook and asked everyone to sign for their rations.
The rations weren’t all the same—there was no rice at all, actually. Instead, there were wheat, sweet potatoes, potatoes, sorghum, mung beans, soybeans, red beans, and corn kernels. These varieties added up to a total of 67 catties.
To be honest, this was much more than the fixed rations in the city. In fact, this was a benefit for every educated youth sent to the countryside, available monthly but only for the first year. Starting from the second year, there would be no more subsidies—you’d eat what you earned, and if you didn’t earn enough, no one would care if you starved.
And don’t think you’d get over 60 catties of rations every month. This first month’s larger amount was specially approved by the village chief to see if these people knew how to manage their lives. If they couldn’t control their appetites even with dozens of catties of grain, they probably wouldn’t amount to much. This would also help him assign work, ensuring no one held the others back.
Of course, apart from a few members of the village committee, not many people knew about this arrangement. The older educated youth knew but wouldn’t say anything, as everyone had to live their own lives. Some people might even think you were meddling if you told them. So, the older educated youth naturally kept quiet and even enjoyed watching the drama unfold.
After a lot of commotion, Su Mi finally managed to sign and collect her share. She took it back to her room first. Without a cabinet, there was no choice but to trust her roommate’s integrity for now.
But she didn’t worry too much about it. After all, with grain in her Dimensional Space, she felt secure. Though it wasn’t a huge amount, it was enough for her to eat for over a decade without issue.
The older educated youth had already cooked their meal and were just waiting for the newcomers to store their rations before starting dinner.
A large pot of mixed grain porridge contained diced sweet potatoes and chopped wild vegetables. To be honest, Su Mi thought it looked like a pot of pig slop she’d seen on TV.
The people sent down to the countryside naturally came from all over. On the table, there were pickled vegetables, kimchi, sauerkraut, shredded pickled mustard, soybean paste, various washed wild vegetables, and green onions—quite a variety.
Su Mi and the other newcomers naturally weren’t so impolite. Each took out the food they had saved from home during the journey.
For example, a jar of spicy shredded radish piled high in a bowl, two cans of fish with their metal lids opened, two thin flatbreads sliced into small pieces, thinly sliced salted duck eggs, shredded spiced dried tofu, and century eggs sliced into rounds and drizzled with vinegar…